the space between
by lanawords
Summary: and as she stands dangerously on the verge of life and death, she meets them. -implied sasusaku


Sakura, Kushina, Mikoto, with a hint of Sasusaku. Well not so much a hint, actually. BUT ANYWAYS. Off to the story we go!

* * *

_"As she stands dangerously on the verge between life and death, she meets them, out of all people."_

They were in the middle-end of war; that much she can fathom, because people around her were fighting with everything that was left within them, the Juubi had been driven slow, and the fire of the first Hokage's will—and Naruto's will—burned and enveloped them in the form of bright yellow chakra. She knew that much, because she was one of them, because she was also one of the shinobi fighting with all she had left—which was not much, really, but it counted. _Everything_ counted.

She recited her mentor's words over and over her head like a mantra. _A medic shall try and avoid confrontation as much as possible. A medic shall try and avoid battle as much as possible. _Her byakugou glowed and her forehead throbbed (her whole head did, really) as she concentrated on maintaining the summoned small portion of Katsuyu that was depended on by all the remaining shinobi on the battlefield.

_We're going to win. _She thought triumphantly, dodging the rocks flying toward her direction as Uchiha Obito slowly lost control over the Juubi. She watched Naruto and Sasuke, their bodies merely two small forms at the heart of big blindingly bright yellow fox and beautiful, beautiful dark purple skeleton warrior. Something evil tugged at her heart and whispered at her ear, _in the end, _you're _still the one who's watching their backs_.

She was distracted, then, when the Juubi—Obito—got hold of Sasuke's Susanoo and Naruto's Kyuubi form at each of its hands, and she cursed under her breath when Tsunade yelled at her to focus. She was trying, dammit, it was just so _damn_ hard to focus in a situation like this.

And then her teammates—because _yes_ Sasuke is still her teammate no matter what—was thrown in the air, the big figures enveloping their real bodies dissipating as they flew in the air. She'd screamed something she couldn't even hear, and the next thing she saw was Kakashi appearing out of nowhere—literally—and he jumped down toward _his_ old teammate, while his old genins were far thrown away, though near each other, near _her_, actually.

The things that happened afterwards were a complete blur tangled in each other in slow motion: Sakura tried to keep her chakra focused at her byakugou and, ignoring Tsunade's cry for her to stop, she leapt toward Sasuke and Naruto, who are trying to stand, ragged breaths and even more ragged clothing. She saw it coming first, the Raikiri his former sensei was aiming at Obito being redirected by the Juubi jinchuuriki toward them, toward _her _teammates.

_Her teammates_, whom she was sure were going to be praised forever as heroes of Konoha—no, as heroes of the entire Shinobi World. She had to make sure of that.

_Her teammates_, who had been fighting with all their might, _side by side_ instead of _each other_, during the damned thing that was this war, even if one of them was a tad bit later to come—given _both_ of them were late.

_Her teammates_, whose backs she had always been watching, and at that instant she thanked the heavens for always making her stay behind, because now, _now_, she finally knew why she was destined to watch their backs.

To cover it for them.

Lightning shot through her by the time she arrived in front of Sasuke and Naruto, both frozen in shock, and Sakura actually had the time to marvel at how she felt nothing at all. She flashed Sasuke a smile and mouthed him _thanks_ before blood spurted out of her mouth and she collapsed in front of the both of them.

The last thing she saw, as blurry as it was, was spinning red eyes. The last thing she heard was her name, shouted by two different voices she had always associated home with.

* * *

It was white. White everywhere. Which was weird, because minutes ago she was seeing _red_ everywhere she'd begun to see it corrupt her vision.

Why was she wearing her dress and not the flak jacket?

Why were her hands clean from dirt and blood, why didn't her forehead throb anymore?

Where was—

Sakura gasped, because the realization, logical as it was, given her split-second decision, still shocked her like a second lightning. She turned around and began to feel heady and airy. So that was it? That was her death?

She was busy looking at her hands and arms and tugging at her hair—why was it longer?—when she saw two figures were standing at a distance, blurred by something akin to fog. The two figures began increasing in size—or maybe they were approaching, so Sakura took several steps back before she remembered, she was dead anyways. Might as well face it head-on. She frowned, all the while hoping for the two figures to _not_ be the two people she had in mind, and stopped short when the two figures were no longer blurry and only stood a couple of feet away.

Two women was smiling at her.

"W-who are the two of you?" Sakura squeaked, unsure of her sight. Why would she meet with these two woman she didn't even know?

The woman with long, flaming red hair smiled brightly at her, while the other, a tall, slim and noticeably calmer woman with jet-black hair that was waist-length smiled softly at her.

"Hi there," the red-haired woman said before erupting into a big, bright smile. "You must be Haruno Sakura. We've been _dying _to meet you. Heh, dying."

Sakura didn't find her humor the least bit funny and a feeling that always emerged in her stomach every time Naruto made a bad joke bubbled inside her, but she forced a smile out of politeness. She noticed the woman also had the verbal tic her blonde teammate had had. "So I'm really dead, then?"

"Kushina, stop that," the woman with black hair chided. Sakura eyed her curiously. She looked suspiciously familiar to her, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Maybe it was a post-death thing, disorientation? "You're making her uneasy."

"Oh, get over it, Mikoto," Kushina said childishly, nudging the other woman's—Mikoto's—shoulder, as if teasing her. She turned back to Sakura, who was still left in the dark and currently staring at them helplessly. "But really, we've been wanting to meet you for _forever_. My name is Uzumaki Kushina. Well, actually I died as Namikaze, but whatever. Did my name rang a bell?"

How could it not? Sakura stared at her with wide eyes and genuine surprise. Uzumaki Kushina. So that was why she spoke—and joked—the same way as Naruto did, and that was also why she looked eerily alike to the boy. It was Naruto's mother standing before her.

"Y-you're Naruto's mother, then?" She asked hesitantly. When Kushina nodded, Sakura bit her lower lip. "I-I'm really sorry, Mrs. Uzumaki—Mrs. Namikaze."

"Oh, it's alright," she said, waving her hand in dismissal. "And just call me Kushina. It's only natural that you don't know who I am," for a moment, her cheerful demeanor was shaken with a sad smile, but it was gone by the next second. Sakura shifted uncomfortably. "Now that you know I'm Naruto's mother, can you guess who she is?" Kushina asked, nudging at Mikoto again teasingly, making the other woman look slightly embarrassed. Mikoto turned toward Sakura and smiled softly at her, though, as if encouraging her to guess.

Sakura bit her lip again. By the seconds, as she looked at Mikoto's features, she had an idea of who she was-no, she definitely _knew_ who she was, but Sakura was afraid to voice it. She inhaled deeply and tried not to stutter, eventually failing altogether. "A-are you… Sa—"

"My name," the woman interjected softly, sensing Sakura's uneasiness, "is Uchiha Mikoto. I'm Sasuke's and Itachi's mother. And you can also call me Mikoto."

Sakura released a breath she didn't know she was holding, and then confusedly stared at the two women before her. Her teammate's beautiful mothers, who'd died far too young to watch their sons grow.

"Can I call you Sakura?" Kushina asked, her bright smile growing softer. Sakura nodded and swallowed the lump in her throat as Mikoto stepped closer to her, Kushina following a little bit behind her. The red-haired woman took her hand and held it firmly, while Mikoto caressed her hair and tucked a loose strand behind her ear. Sakura's heart—_was it supposed to still be beating?_—palpitated. "Sakura," Kushina said softly, "we honestly can't answer your question about you leaving that world already, because we don't know. It's too early to tell."

"You're in what people usually call the in-between," Mikoto smiles, still caressing her hair.

"So there's a chance I'm still alive?" Sakura asked, her voice rough around the edges. She cleared her throat, not wanting to cry and swallowed down both the lump and the hope. If she was dead, then she was dead. That was it.

"I don't know," Kushina said, squeezing her hand with both of hers. "We came here to meet you to… talk."

Then suddenly, a pair of slim, warm arms enveloped Sakura in a tight hug, throwing her aback and deeming her immobile from responding. "Kushina's taking too long," Mikoto whispered to her, her hands a comforting warmth that caresses her hair down to her back. "Thank you. We're here to thank you. Thank you so much, Sakura."

Mikoto pulled away before Sakura could respond, and her dainty fingers wiped the tears that had fell down without Sakura's consent. She pulled her in and kissed her forehead, and the next second Sakura was in Kushina's embrace and they were all on their knees—_when had that happened? _She was terribly disoriented ever since she opened her eyes to all these white.

"Thank you so much," Kushina said softly when she pulled away from Sakura, her hand caressing either side of Sakura's face, willing the tears that kept falling to fade. Sakura knew, though, it wasn't tears of fear or sadness for her supposed-death, it was something else.

"What… for?" Sakura asked, her breath hitching, her voice hoarse from crying.

"Thank you for taking care of Naruto," Kushina said, tears were starting to stream down her face—and Mikoto's—as well. She laughed lightly then before patting Mikoto's shoulder with one hand. "And Sasuke. Even though Sasuke's a little bit luckier, you've taken care of Naruto so well. Thank you, Sakura, for watching him, for being a great company for him, for slapping senses—even literally—to him when he's acting silly, for not letting him eat ramen three times a day. Thank you."

Sakura couldn't even form any kind of coherent words. "And, thank you," Mikoto said, her arms around Sakura again, her breath warm on Sakura's ear. "Thank you, for letting Sasuke be 'a little bit luckier', thank you for loving him, Sakura. God knows both Naruto and Sasuke went through, but thank you so much," she said, laughing a soft laugh that reminded Sakura of Sasuke's low chuckle, "thank you for loving Sasuke, for being there for him, for making him feel loved, needed, and—" Mikoto stopped to catch a breath, "—thank you, for keeping him on his grounds."

Suddenly, Sakura shook her head in reflex, a particular memory passing through her mind in between Mikoto's gratitude. "I-I don't deserve your gratitude, I—" Sakura sobbed, "—I tried to harm Sasuke and—"

"Ssh," was Mikoto's response, her arms tightening around Sakura as Kushina's hand squeeze Sakura's, her hand running soothing circles on her back again as Sakura sobbed uncontrollably into her shoulder—this woman, the woman she never knew, the woman who was Sasuke's mother, the woman who had died before Sakura had even known Sasuke. "I forgive you. You did it because you love him. You did it because he had fell so, _so_ low," she whispered to Sakura. "If anything, you were the push he had needed to get back on his footing. Thank you, Sakura. And I'm sorry, so sorry for all the hurt Sasuke's been putting you through."

Kushina wiped her own tears and smiled at Mikoto, who had pulled away again from Sakura. Sakura bit her lower lip hard, her head hung down because she couldn't calm her cries down. Kushina slowly released her grip on Sakura's hand. "You owe me an apology too, then. Naruto stressed about Sasuke a lot, you know," she said at Mikoto, who smiled back at him.

"I know. I'm sorry for our Sasu-chan's bad behavior."

"I—I'm sorry," Sakura croaked out weakly, her eyes still downcast as she desperately tried to stop her sobbing. Mikoto and Kushina immediately had their attention to the girl. "I'm so sorry for—for not doing my best taking care of them. I'm sorry, for not being able to keep us all together and safe. I'm—I'm sorry I can't protect them anymore for the rest of this war. I'm—"

"You protected them, Sakura," Kushina said, lifting Sakura's chin up to look at them. "You protected them with your life. You've always covered their backs for them. You healed them when they got injuries. They're just reckless, troublesome, silly teenage boys, and Mikoto and I can't even imagine what they would be like if you weren't there. If you weren't _always_ there."

"You took care of them so well, Sakura," Mikoto said, tucking Sakura's hair behind her ears once more. "Once again, thank you."

Sakura finally nodded, wiping her tears with all her might and smiled at the two women. "They're going to win the war," she said confidently. "They're going to win this war, and they're going to be heroes. Not just for Konoha, but for the world."

"And that's all thanks to you," Mikoto said. "Thank you again… Sakura."

"We have to go," Kushina said suddenly, sadness lacing her voice. She hugged Sakura tightly once more, and they all stood up, wiping their tears after Sakura returned her embrace. "Sakura. Thank you so much," she said, kissing Sakura's forehead. Sakura noticed the faint glow starting to envelope both women, but she strangely didn't feel scared that they were going to leave again. She felt so… at peace.

As Kushina walked slightly away from them, Mikoto cradled Sakura's face, pushing off the loose pink strands aside, a soft smile on her face. "I don't want to impose you even more, Sakura, but," she inhaled, "if you had the chance, if you still… have the chance to stay, can you… take care of Sasuke?" She smiled at Sakura's confused expression, and then her voice had a slightly teasing edge to it. "If you're going to marry Sasu-chan, please take care of him, alright? Take care of him, make him happy, love him, because he needs it, Sakura. He never voice it, but he needs it so much it hurts him. I know you can give him that."

Sakura blushed, but nodded anyways because the glow had become brighter and brighter, and she hugged Mikoto tight before Kushina laughed at them. "Oh look at you, securing a daughter-in-law already. I'm jealous."

Mikoto simply smiled at her, and they both threw Sakura one last look. "Thank you, Sakura."

They walked away from her, bright and blurred, and before she knew it, Sakura was on the ground again. She smiled at herself, and she hugged her knees, burying her face and allowing her eyelids to close. They were suddenly heavy, and she found herself so sleepy and light-headed, and she thought, _this is it_, but she smiled.

"You're welcome."

* * *

There was a faint and strange beeping sound, like the ticking of a countdown. The place was cold despite the warmth enveloping one of her hand and the blanket she knew was strewn across her, but she had no desire to open her eyes yet.

Eventually, slowly, she opened her eyes, blinking owlishly at the blurry images of her surroundings, at the too-bright lamps of the room. Was this her place in heaven? Was this her room? Her cell? How was the arrangements of the deceased in heaven anyways?

But then she realized she wasn't in heaven, not when the beeping sound was coming from a machine that was connected to her chest. Her bandaged, and _very_ sore chest and torso. She realized she wasn't in heaven—or hell for that matter—because she could smell the disinfectant in the air, and something else. Apples?

No, she knew she wasn't in heaven, because someone was sleeping soundly beside her, his head laid on her hospital bed, his hand holding hers in a gentle grip.

Sakura winced as she tried to sit up, but before she even succeeded to do so, the man sleeping on her bedside catapulted into a frigid sitting position, his onyx eyes wide. Sakura ignored him and continued her struggle to sit up instead, while also taking in the very familiar surroundings. She's in the hospital. When the hold on her hand remained, she smiled faintly at the person.

"You're awake," he stated simply. She wanted to ask why he was here and why was her hand in his, but she decided against it. She cleared her throat, knowing that she'd probably sound all hoarse and ridiculous, before asking him.

"The war…"

"Was finished. We won," he stood up suddenly, as if he just got out of trance. "I'll get someone."

"Wait," she said, holding on to his hand. His eyes traveled toward their interlocked hands, like wondering why and when and how it had happened, but he didn't pull away. "Are you okay?"

"There will be time for stories," he said softly, "but now I'll need to get someone for you."

"Wait just a minute, Sasuke-kun," she said, beginning to feel annoyed. "Are you okay? How about Naruto? Kakashi-sensei? Ino? The others?"

He sighed, knowing full well that he had to answer her first before he could get a nurse. "I'm okay. Naruto's splendid. Kakashi's alright, but still sore and tired. I think none of us are hurt critically. Most just pass out for two days because of chakra depletion," he explained. She blinked at him and frowned lightly, because she rarely heard him talk that much, more so past their genin days.

"How long was I out?"

He visibly tensed at that, and his words was slow when he answered, like he was grinding his teeth as he tried to speak. "Three weeks."

Sakura frowned again and examined her free hand. She looked so thin. Sasuke had stood up again.

"I'm goin—"

"Why are you here?" She blurted out. He was caught off-guard and he shifted her gaze from hers.

"We take turns watching you," he answered. She knew it was a lie, really, it was evident in his face. She smiled at him, and released her hold at his hand as she took in the contours of his face. It reminded her of someone else. So when Sasuke nodded at her and walked toward the door, Sakura told him the last thing that that someone had said to her.

"Thank you."

Sasuke was silent for a couple of second, but right before he closed the door, and right before Sakura closed her eyes again in content, she heard it loud and clear, the reply that wasn't so much as the other. "Hn."

* * *

ohmygod that was _crap_. i got the idea in a whim and the nNn i wroteit also in a whim asldkghds i'm not coherent anymore i'm supposed to be asleep already it's 1am i have lecture at 7 tomorrow-or today. A|UGHHHH I HATE COLLEGE. one day i may try and correct the mistakes here. MAY.

/uh i love mikoto and kushina they're so pwetty/

[update!]: i edited some mistakezzz yay


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